You don’t have to customize hats at some store or mall kiosk. You can do it at home or in a small shop and make money instead of spending it.
When you customize hats at a retail outlet, you will spend about $40.00 for a hat with a logo. And your options for customizing that hat are limited to embroidery.
And while the custom embroidered hat business is a great one to get into, it’s definitely not your only option!
- The 4 most popular (and profitable) ways to make custom caps are:
- Embroidery
- Heat Transfer Vinyl
- White Toner Printer (DigitalHeat FX) Transfers
- Sublimation
Here’s a quick look at those methods to give you an idea of your options should you choose to start a custom cap business or just invest in something for personal use:
Now each of these methods vary in price. But they all require that you find and buy blank wholesale hats – because you’ll never make any money starting with a hat from Lids or a retail outlet and THEN customizing.
So, before we get into comparing the methods, let’s look at wholesale hats and pricing options:
Next, you’ll want to do the math to make sure your business makes sense.
You already know what your product(s) will be and how much you can charge.
Wholesale Hats for Sale
Most companies that sell wholesale blank hats require some paperwork before you qualify for an account. They may ask for a business license or tax ID and some might even require you to have been in business for a certain period of time before they will sell to you.
But Colman and Company (ColDesi Supplies) lets you easily sign up for a free account and just start buying.
Here’s a great example of a wholesale price for a blank cap. Just $4.10 for a 2-tone snapback trucker cap.
Here are a few other styles to give you a feel for what you’ll pay for a blank hat you can customize.
Even the most expensive of these wholesale hats are under $10, with no minimum quantity.
Remember the customized hats at the mall for $40? With blanks this cheap, there’s plenty of room for profit!
Options to Create Custom Embroidered Hats
When figuring out how to customize a cap, the first thing you’re going to need is a professional or commercial custom hat embroidery machine.
Some home machines and sewing store models claim to be able to sew onto hats. But in reality, they’re too limited in size, speed, and quality to build a business on.
The good news about embroidered hats is that they’re VERY familiar and the pricing is pretty well established. $40 at the higher end and $22 at the lower, depending on the quantity of course.
And the supply costs are extremely low.
For a typical custom logo design, embroidery thread will cost fractions of a penny. The backing you put inside the cap is under $.06 each.
Even if you create a 3D embroidery design, you might pay an additional $.40 for the foam you’ll need.
- Hat Embroidery Machines
The 2 best commercial embroidery machines for you here at ColDesi are the Avancé 1501C and Avancé 1201C
The Avancé 1501C is a multi-needle embroidery machine with 15 needles. That means it has 15 cones of thread loaded up or 15 colors. It’s the style of machine you’ll see at may mall kiosks and custom hat retail stores.
An Avancé 1201C is a 12-needle version. Still multi-needle and multi-color, just a few less.
What they BOTH have
- The touchscreen control panel is the same on both machines. And that’s what you’ll be interacting with the most.
- You can store ALL of your designs right in the control panel, change colors/positions, and send designs on your Wi-Fi network.
- Training, support, and embroidery software are the same.
- They’ll embroider hats just as well and just as quickly.
You’ll want the 1501C if you’re planning to customize large items. The embroidery field is much larger, so it’s better for blankets, table runners, draperies, and more.
The 1201C is a great choice because it’s less expensive and still does a great job on hats. Plus, its smaller size makes it much more retail space or back bedroom friendly.
Watch this video to see a quick comparison:
Why You Should Choose to Customize Hats With Embroidery
- Easy to sell – Everyone knows what an embroidered hat is. No need to explain.
- You can do 3D! Great value for great-looking designs
- VERY profitable. Buy wholesale hats for $4.10 and sell finished ones for $22+
Why You Might Not Want to Choose Embroidery
- Longer turnaround It takes 10-15 minutes per hat. Your max output will be four or five per hour
- Custom embroidery is a skill. It is arguably more challenging to learn than transfer methods.
- High startup costs Equipment normally costs between $9,000 and $12,000.
If you’re interested in the latest embroidery machine pricing – including financing – visit
Requirements for Heat Transfers to Customize Hats
The other 3 methods to customize caps or hats are transfer printers.
That means that you produce a transfer that needs to be heat applied onto the cap. This method requires a “Cap Press” or “Hat Press,” which is a heat press specially designed for applying transfers onto hats.
There are actually many different kinds of heat presses. Here’s a video tour of your options. Please watch before you read on!
- Customize HTV Hats [Heat Transfer Vinyl]
Heat transfer vinyl is how you customize HTV hats.
Starting with the same wholesale hats we mentioned above, you can make custom designs that sell quickly, easily, and affordably.
In order to make custom hats with heat transfer vinyl, you’ll need a vinyl cutter, a cap press, and rolls of HTV.
You’ve got the same kind of choice between a consumer cutter and a professional one as you do with an embroidery machine.
While it’s possible to use something like a Cricut hobby cutter to make designs you can put on a cap, it’s too slow and limited for real professional use. Even the 12” version of these is just incredibly slow compared to a professional one.
Graphtec CE7000 15” Vinyl Cutter
The Graphtec 15” is a great starter HTV cutter for professional use. While the model numbers may change, Graphtec always offers a 15” size just for this startup business market.
Here are a few important differences in a professional machine like this:
More Designs for your Money
Hobby cutters use cut sheets of heat transfer vinyl (like 12”x12” squares, for example) only. Professional cutters use ROLLS of vinyl (15” x 5-yard rolls are common) that sit behind it and are automatically pulled through.
That allows you to get a lot more custom hat designs for your money. In fact, a roll of high-quality heat transfer vinyl – Triton HTV – can be purchased for as little as $.012 per square inch. That puts the average customized HTV hat design at under $.40 in materials. You can expect to pay four to 10 times as much for cut sheets!
More Orders per Hour
Using rolls instead of sheets drastically improves how many designs you can make per hour. And if your custom hat business is starting as a side hustle, that can make a BIG difference in your life.
There are 3 reasons why you can make more hat designs per hour:
1. You don’t have to stop to change sheets! With a hobby cutter, you have to stop after every two to three designs to put in a new sheet. You should be able to make about 90 designs on a 5 yard roll before switching.
2. Graphtec cutters are FASTER. They cut much faster and move the vinyl through the machine quickly.
3. You don’t have to babysit the cutter. So you can start heat pressing your hats, or working on your marketing – or put the kids to bed – while your vinyl is being cut.
More Other Things
Having a Roll Cutter like the Graphtec CE7000 ALSO allows you to do a lot more things in addition to your custom hats, like:
- Window Signs
- Custom T-Shirts
- Sports Jerseys
- Mugs and Cups
- Much More
Why You Should Customize Hats With HTV
- Low cost of entry – A professional cutter can be financed for as low as $35/month
- Very easy to use! Simple software makes these simple machines easy to operate
- Glitter options! Bling is very popular.
- Easy to mix designs! Extras like embroidery or bling make one-of-a-kind custom hats easy to make.
Why You Might Not Want to Choose HTV
- You may not be able to charge the same prices as you would for embroidered hats.
- You can only make single-color or layered-color designs.
- HTV customized hats may not have the look that buyers are interested in.
If you’re interested in the latest HTV cutter pricing – including financing – visit
White Toner Transfers Customize Hats
DigitalHeat FX transfers are made with white toner printers and EZPeel brand paper specifically designed for use in these printers.
White toner transfers are the fastest-growing customization method and have been around for about 4 years. It offers full-color printing that you can apply to any color and any type of fabric. And that includes hats!
To create custom hats with a white toner printer you will create the design, print it onto the “film”, add the adhesive sheet, and heat press. It is somewhere between embroidery and HTV in the learning curve but has a distinct advantage: you can create FULL-color graphics or actual photos and put them on a hat! ANY hat we’ve tried!
One of the ways you can give a side hustle, or any new business, the greatest chance to succeed is with the ability to say YES to more things. By giving customers the freedom to get virtually any design put on a blank wholesale hat, you’re increasing your chances of landing new orders and earning repeat business. From a company logo to a picture of a family member, you’ll be able to make custom items that your customers will love.
And the same transfers you make to customize heat transfer hats can be applied to t-shirts, bags, other apparel, and even promotional items.
Think about the difference between what you and someone with only an embroidery machine or vinyl cutter can offer:
Consider this scenario: A customer wants a team logo on 20 hats for a local baseball league. You can make the entire order in just over an hour. You charge $20 each and make $400 on the sale.
But it doesn’t stop there. You then offer them the exact same design on the left chest of the coach’s polo shirt. And a version on a jacket or t-shirt for the player’s moms. That could add up to another $500 sale without requiring any more work other than printing the same design and putting them on shirts.
- DigitalHeat FX Opportunities
If you strictly want to create custom hats, then the DigitalHeat FX systems might not be your best choice.
Not because it won’t do an amazing job, but because of the opportunities you’ll be missing just doing hats!
There are DigitalHeat FX owners that are doing everything from running a successful custom t-shirt business alone to selling things like:
- Coasters
- Backpacks
- Shorts
- Luchboxes
- Folders
- Cups and Mugs
- More
To get an idea of everything you can do you’ll want to visit http://digtalheatfx.com
In the meantime, here is a video comparing the 3 models you have an options:
Why You Should Choose to Customize Hats with Transfers and DigitalHeat FX
- Versatility – These machines give you and your business more options.
- Full Color Images Use any logo or photo for your designs and charge more for them!
- Sell the transfers You can make money selling transfers to other people to heat press.
Why You Might Not Want to Choose White Toner Transfers
- Not as easy as HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) - There is a tradeoff between added capabilities and more complexity
- Supply costs are higher Blank transfers cost more than thread and other supplies.
- High-end heat press needed -To make t-shirts properly, you'll need a better heat press, which means higher up-front expenses.
- Higher initial costs The investment is about the same as an embroidery machine, but good finance payments are also available.
If you’re interested in the latest DigitalHeat FX pricing – including financing – visit
How to Customize a Cap Using Sublimation
The least expensive way to customize hats is using a sublimation printer.
The Sawgrass SG500 is priced around $650. When coupled with a hat press, will produce some brilliant results.
Sublimation transfers use sublimation inks and special paper, but the process is remarkably like printing a color photo with your home printer.
Here’s a great video to show you what the process is like:
- Sublimation Opportunities
The big advantage to using sublimation to customize hats is specifically because the start-up costs are so LOW. But you can still add full-color designs and photos onto caps or hats.
And just like the DigitalHeat FX printers, we have many customers that have a great business doing a lot more than just one thing. Like:
- Sublimation puzzles
- Custom Coasters
- Steel Cups
- Travel Mugs
- Coffee Mugs
- Keychains
- More
Sublimation is THE traditional way to make promotional products and it is a great way to make custom apparel.
Sublimation printers do have a limitation that none of the other methods do – sublimation transfers can only be applied to polyester.
So, if you want to make puzzles, mugs, and cups, you have to buy special sublimation blanks.
If you want to make custom t-shirts, you’ll need to stick to 100% polyester shirts like those made by Vapor Apparel.
And for your custom sublimation hat business, you’ll need specially produced hats like this one:
As you can see, you’ll have fewer choices for wholesale hats you can use for sublimation because the blank has to be “sublimatable” like the Vapor Apparel, but also because it has to be a LIGHT COLOR.
With DigitalHeat FX transfers, you’re printing with white toner and traditional colors. That white toner allows you to put the transfer onto a dark hat or garment and still look amazing. But sublimation doesn’t have white toner, so not only do you need to choose a polyester hat, it has to be white or very light in color.
Why You Should Choose to Customize Hats with Sublimation
- Versatility Second only to the DigitalHeat FX system in terms of the different items you can customize!
- Full Color Images Use any logo or photo and charge more for great designs!
- Very inexpensive startup costs Much easier to begin your business using sublimation because of its lower investment cost.
- Simple to use With just a little practice, almost anyone can start printing using sublimation. ColDesi has terrific training available!
Why You Might Not Want to Choose to Customize Hats with Sublimation
- Very limited hat options Due to printing requirements, you may have few choices when looking for blank hats.
- Limited to polyester Without special transfers, you can only print on polyester.
- Cannot put on ANY dark material or objects Because sublimation doesn’t use white toner, designs have to be printed on light-colored materials.
If you’re interested in the latest Sublimation Printer pricing – including financing – visit
Ready to Get Started Making Custom Hats?
With a commercial embroidery machine like the Avancé 1201C, you can open a full-blown retail embroidery shop, mall kiosk, or online business from home.
Start with a heat transfer vinyl cutter like the Graphtec CE7000 and produce some great-looking custom caps and hats for a very low price.
Get into a more versatile business with DigitalHeat FX white toner transfer printers. With them, you can print full-color designs on caps, hats, T-shirts, and more on almost any material.
Or start small with a sublimation printer like the Sawgrass SG500 or SG1000.
The good news is that you can discuss all of these options and more in one place! Just chat with a member of the ColDesi team below or call 877-793-3278.
